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Her mind went back to her original issue with him, though.
So, I’m supposed to both let them explore their bears, and make sure they don’t do anything dangerous? The two were basically mutually exclusive as far as she could tell. But again, she kept her thoughts to herself. “I’ll text you when we get there,” she said simply, promptly hanging up before he could say another word.
Okay, so maybe that was a bitch move, but that was the best she could do at the moment.
The Demeters lived just outside of town, in the Rolling Hills estate.
Of course, they do.At least it wasn’t a very long drive to get into Fae Crossing proper.
After a surprisingly easy time wrangling up the kids, Winona was soon on her way down Mountain View.
Next stop, Fae Crossing Hospital, Shifter Care wing.
* * *
This family had been hell.Nothing she’d done had ever been good enough. She’d been working with kids more or less since she was a kid herself. And some of those kids had, in fact, been shifters, so it wasn’t like she didn’t know what she was talking about!
It was annoying when they doubted her skill set. More than annoying.
Yeah, she got it, she was human, so what did she know about shifters? Well, losing your parents and having to be raised with some adopted shifter siblings was sort of a crash course to becoming an expert.Add in that half the time I was expected to babysit them, and well…here I am!Regardless, while she felt she had earned a degree in shifter care from the school of hard knocks, these parents had apparently picked one up in crazy making. That was what it had come down to.
She knew she shouldn’t have taken this job.You would think I’d have learned my lesson by now with shifters.Whether it was kids or adults, they were just more trouble than they were worth. She felt a little bad saying that about the kids, though. Truthfully, she usually had no problem with the little ones, shifter or otherwise. Or at least, she didn’t used to. And she loved the kids’ energy a lot of the time. But when you add that to the mix of the tough job of playing surrogate mommy, it was just too much. It didn’t help that this particular set of parents seemed to be under the misguided impression that you could substitute direct love and care for your kids with money. Poor kids.Oh well, I tried.
Soon enough she was rolling past the Tree and the Four Corners. The hospital was just a few blocks away now.
At the front desk she asked for Joanna, and after establishing that she did in fact know what was what shifter wise, she and the kids were ushered onto the proper elevator.
“It’s enchanted,” Joanna said to her, smiling as the doors opened onto the shifter floor.
One might think that, since she was raised by shifters, enchantments would be just run of the mill. This was hardly the case, though she just smiled in return.
Inside, she was a little nervous, though. Growing up “in the know” had been challenging to say the least. And while it was cool and all, and she felt like she was in some special club knowing all about shifters, she was somewhat less enthusiastic about all the other crazy beings that also inhabited the town. Like Fae. She had always sort of kept her interactions with them to a minimum. No doubt her adopted family’s feelings about fae had played a large part in that.
So, she just smiled at Joanna, “Enchanted. Yes, of course.”
* * *
With the childbeing attended to, she took a seat with the boys to wait for Mr. Demeter to arrive. She didn’t have to wait long. Upon arrival, he barely even greeted her. He just handed her her last check.
Jimmy and Jonah at least had the grace to look a little embarrassed by the exchange.
Whatever. She had smiled at them kindly and said her goodbyes.
That was the challenge of getting the wrong placement. Sometimes you didn’t realize what a nightmare the family was until it was too late. And then came the feeling of powerlessness. There was only so much you could do for someone else’s kids in that situation.
Truthfully, getting out of there was a relief.
Besides, life had prepared her for being light on her feet. Well, looked like she needed to have a conversation with the agency about this one. Luckily, they were pretty understanding in these matters.
As she drove herself home, she vaguely wondered what fate had in store for her with her next placement. She wasn’t done as a nanny. She knew she still loved it, and it wasn’t like her artwork was going to pay the bills any time soon.If ever. But one thing was for certain. She was definitely done with nannying shifters.
CHAPTER2
“Dude, I can’t believe you made us put on these monkey suits,” Rollo said under his breath as he stood at attention alongside his packmates.
“Shhhh. Rollo… it’s theking. If there is ever an occasion to be wearing our uniforms, I think this is it,” Dax whispered back to him.
Besides them, Clint, Dayton, and Jack stood at attention as well, as King Tarragon’s small entourage milled about while the king himself cleared his throat.
